I didn't think that I had many pictures from past herping. My wife has been the one taking all the pictures up until this year and she usually snubs the herps, but I dug into the photo files and found something from a Coastal California trip we took in 2004 to Lompoc. We found a California King Snake, numerous Gopher Snakes, lizards, etc. At one section of road right near the beach one evening, the snakes were so numerous that I had to drive carefully so that I didn't smash any of them. I jumped out and started grabbing snakes and running back to the car to hand them to people. At that point a new in-law announced that she wasn't comfortable having snakes that close to her, so I stopped collecting them (If I had another herper to go with me, I would have cruised roads all night that night. As it was, my in-laws acted like my herping fascination was some sort of mental illness and maybe it is). I'm realizing that I should have had a camera all these years, but there will be good finds to come and they will end up right here on the blog.
(note: after enjoying their company for a short time, the herps were all released)
